


Arctale

by Cindergrad



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abandonment, Abuse, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Undertale Multiverse | UTMV (Undertale), Ambiguous Relationships, Angst, Anxiety, Apathy, Blood and Gore, Complicated Relationships, Creation, Death, Fights, Gen, Gore, Grief/Mourning, Isolation, Loss, Mental Health Issues, Prologue, Psychological Trauma, Responsibility, So I'm gonna go easy with it, Struggle, Tension, This is either gonna go well and crash really hard, Trauma, Undertale Spoilers, idk how to write, nobody should trust me with this, undertale - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25549948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cindergrad/pseuds/Cindergrad
Summary: Arctale is a alternate story line that intertwines and mainly alters the events of Underverse and Xtale.From the events of the Timeline X, Cross absorbs the soul of the X-event, sealing it in his soul and corrupting his timeline. The energy dispersed causes the excess energy to convert into a blast, corrupting the universe most adjacent to it, a hybrid AU named Arctale.A human named Kate, a bearer of a white human soul, is the only recurring survivor of the event, and must find the cause of the event and a way to reverse the damage done to their world. It won't be easy, and the outer world may never let go of them."Leap and reach into yourself,Your chest, your life.Travel back and see your health,Your joy, your strife.As long as you can sense and know,In health, in sight.That you will have the sense of hope,To always see the light".YOU ARE FILLED WITH HOPE.
Kudos: 2
Collections: Undertale





	1. The shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arctale is a alternate story line that intertwines and alters the main events of Underverse and Xtale.
> 
> From the events of the Timeline X, Cross absorbs the soul of the X-event, sealing it in his soul and corrupting his timeline. The energy dispersed causes the excess energy to convert into a blast, corrupting the universe most adjacent to it, a hybrid AU named Arctale.
> 
> A human named Kate is the only recurring survivor of the event, and must find the cause of the event and a way to reverse the damage done to their world. Even if it kills them and tears their opportunity to live a normal life again.
> 
> "Leap and reach into yourself,  
> Your chest, your life.  
> Travel back and see your health,  
> Your joy, your strife.
> 
> As long as you can sense and know,  
> In health, in sight.  
> That you will have the sense of hope,  
> To always see the light".

Arctale was not made for any expression. Arctale was never meant as a viewing glass to something else like most AUs in the multiverse. It was an almost silent, automatic AU with little to no source of change or difference distinguishable from the Original Universe.

But, one thing was for certain. Arctale existed for a reason unlike any other. It was a **Tether**. A tether is a Fusion universe that links the world of the Creators, **the Origin** , to the created worlds they imagined. Arctale was a tether for the Multiverse, connected to the first universe, **Undertale**. Although the two may seem to be similar at first glance, many differences stem away from the original due to its role as a tether. The effect of that being that creators exist in that universe, as well as the Underground and the inhabitants known as Monsters. The original mechanics and laws of magic existed as well, the fusion of both universe it bridged itself to.

Arctale was almost _too sentient_ for its own good. It had much more flexibility than most AUs, in its ability to include a much bigger and broader storyline and a much more powerful influence on the world outside of it. Arctale had its own weaknesses, however, as it had a much bigger and fragile world and code and complexity in its range of timelines.  
(When I mean complex, I mean really complex-)

Of course, until the Blast, no one knew that the Tether had existed and who came from it. The tether was never meant for display or for motivation or inspiration. The existence of a Tether was unknown in most aspects of creation and so was anything that came from it. If anyone had really made a tether for creation,  
Then they would be lying.

No one cares for a shopping bag, only the groceries inside of it. And so Arctale was that shopping bag and the Origin the shoppers. You'd know what the groceries by filling in the gaps.

\------- -------

\------- -------  
In a crumpled, soft blanket, a figure was half stretched over the canvas of the bed. In a mediocre, minimalistic bedroom, little specks of dust and dirt conversed with every segment, with the sleek black lamp, with the charcoal nightstand, and with the desktop, drawing tablet and various desk toppers covering the dark brown desk.

The light struck the room with a beam true to the figure in the bed, their long hazel hair shuffling as it's singed with the light.  
The figured grumbled and shrugged out the unwanted calling, turning their body to the other side. This wasn't the best day they wanted to wake up early on. They wrestled the blanket to check the time on their phone.

'Oh god, it's already a minute until the alarm goes off. They shouldn't have stayed up reading that fanfic about a council. Well, no regrets'.

/PZZT/PZZT/  
/PZZT/PZZT/

  
"Okay, okay, I'm up, I swear", they mumbled as they turned their body upright. They lifted themself up and started to change into a maroon Parker and navy blue tracksuits, their favourite uniform combo, period. They noticed as they adjusted their vision, an almost painful twinge, almost like a zap course through their body.

  
"Arghhhh!" They softly said to not worry any others around, as they started to rapidly shake their hand.

Within a minute, the pain phased and roughly faded away. They paused in surprise of the short span of time it was there.

"Huh. It's gone. But what the hell was that?!"

It took a while to shake the unease, shivering from the memory of the sensation. However, the emotions remained. And the questions were swarming.

'What the heck was that?

Is that normal?

Was I just electrocuted or something?

What is happening?

Can't there be anything normal about me?'

Even though they shook the memory of the weird zap, it was all they could focus and think about for the rest of the morning. They knew something was up, but they could not see where the dots lined up. And they knew it wasn't a good thing, either. And that was proven later in the day.

But first, they had to get through it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if that was enough for a first chapter but here we go, ayyyyy. 
> 
> Don't trust me with writing, I'd probably write too much for lore and not enough for story xD
> 
> But I hope you enjoyed it (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)


	2. Common fields

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SANS UNDERTALE.  
> SANS UNDERTALE.  
> And Kate has a lot of explaining to do to her bro. Just saying.  
> Mike is a mood for real and you can't disagree on that xD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basic background info spoiler go brrrrrr  
> Yes, there's a lot of backstory but I want to make sure it isn't just 2 people standing in a room kind of boring. 
> 
> And I overdo it sometimes and not describe it enough so... Yeah.
> 
> Calm before the storm, am I right?

**That goddamn zap.**  
Just the way it phased inside of them was off like it had slowly shocked each part of them from top to bottom.  
The way it passed through as well was also very peculiar.  
The behaviour of it was random and all over the place like it was searching for something.  
Of course, as they got ready for school, the figment of thought remained on the anomaly. A construct was forming and they didn't like any part of it.

\----- ------

_Their name was Kate and they never hear many people call them that but it's just the most comfortable way that they want their name to be, besides the numerous ways you could spell Katelyn. Kate had slightly tanned skin (well, it was obvious it was darker than most people around her which had super pale skin), but wore baggy clothes to hide it. She had really bad chicken skin and she didn't have the perfect physique so she'd never valued her looks, period._

_With hazel eyes and an even darker shade of brown for hair, Kate matched it with thick, black, plastic lenses from her glasses and small, simple pearl earrings as an extra touch. She'd usually indulge in wearing thick, woolly hoodies and a plain V-neck T-shirt underneath with dark blue jeans or tracksuits on a chilly day but her school uniform would consist of a heavy maroon Parker jacket and some dark navy blue pants she was bought to wear from a department store from her parents to keep her uniform code up to standard._

_She would prefer to be indoors and stay there for most of the free time she had. She would always turn to any way of staying away from any group tasks or activities due to past catastrophes. She was the lone leaf, spanned much farther away from the other branches of the tree. Kate could never be swept back without never looking right among the others. And interacting with them? She would rather choose death. Welp, beggars can't be choosers, and she'd bite her tongue for every aching second of it._

_Kate wasn't an energetic power tower or a social butterfly. Quite the opposite. More laidback, on the sidelines and always looking to the ground or the sky when she needed something. She had low standards, kept herself to a kind degree of manners, and always kept a smile up for anyone she saw that she cared for. Of course, when she gets comfortable, she can be as chaotic as she wants. For the majority, Kate was a wild card. And a very hard one to crack in order to get anything._

_But of course, most of them were never close to her. At all_. Or even TRIED to at least.

\------ ------

Kate brushed her hair, lightly brushing it and tying it up like usual into a ponytail so it didn't need much maintenance. She slipped her black leather-like school shoes and white socks to match the dress code.

"Morning".

"Good morning to you too, Mike".

Kate was usually the one that said the first thing in the morning. Very strange. He usually isn't like that. Mike usually never has the energy to talk in the morning, yet be as polite like he was then, he was usually like that **after** school.

\------- --------

_Mike was two years younger than his sister. But a year ago, he had finally caught up to his older sister and overtook them in height. So now, he towers her and usually jokes about it at some point in the day. But Kate always comes back with that he'll never catch up to her age and he'll always be the younger brother. Oof. He was much skinnier in appearance than Kate was and much more social at school, well mostly at school. Otherwise, Mike's a flat out Introvert when at home, usually reserved to his tablet or laptop, playing games or watching Let's Plays online._

_For most of his life, Mike had short trimmed hair but had recently grown it out and now it looks like the Eskimo hat that covers your ears. He's had dark, black hair and has kept it that way for as far as Kate can remember. Not getting a haircut for a while was a big thing and it definitely changed his appearance. He regrets keeping it long for more reasons than to keep it and asks every day how his hair is because it would occasionally split at the back of his head, making it look a hedgehog._

_In the last couple of years, Mike has grown up and a year ago, he started going to the same school Kate goes to. He's changed quite a lot and even though he is very extroverted around friends, Mike still remains as one of the relaxed people in the group he reigns supreme over. And he's going through a grumpy phase, not much to say about that._

\---------- --------

Kate brushed off the peculiar thought and scavenged around the kitchen and discovered the leftovers their parents had left for them.

"Yes! They left some curry out!"

One of her favourite dishes was out on the stovetop with accompanied basmati rice beside it on the bench, ready to warm up. They warmed up the meal and enjoyed the spicy embrace of red curry chicken. Delicious.

Eventually time passed from watching some videos and they heard a soft knock on the door.

"Hello? Who's there?" Kate asked.

?: "You"

K: "You who?"

A figure whooshed to the gap in the window and grinned a gaping smile. Kate opened the wooden door slowly and unlocked the screen.

?: "It's nice to see YOU, Kate".

K: "It's nice to see you too, Arc".

M: "Kate, you still haven't explained why you call him that, his name is sa-"

A: "Yes, that's my name but your sister and I made a promise for either of us not to use that name towards each other. Maybe one day we'll show you why? It's not too far away from here, anyway. if it's alright with your sister and your parents of course".

K: "Arc is right. We have to let mum and dad know about it first. They don't know about a few things that _might_ take a while to get the idea settled in but afterwards, it should be fine. C'mon, we gotta get to school. We've wasted enough time".

M: "Mmmph, fine. You got a point. But at some point, answer at least the basic questions. You can't hide them forever, Katelyn. People would get suspicious since you know them already and I wouldn't disagree with it. And since everyone's here, including your BOYFRIEND, we can leave. So, let's go."

The group joined up with their neighbour and took the usual route, going up the street to the traffic lights to cross them, going right and following the footpath to the local cafe across from the school, Arc waving goodbye and giving a hug to Kate as they started to order a coffee for themselves.

"You two look like a cute couple together, Ka-"

"Shut. We're not that at all and if you knew what I do at work then you would blow all those sinful thoughts away."

"Pffft, I'm just kidding Kate. Though, sans looks at you in a way he doesn't look at everyone, not gonna li-"

"Shut.up.now. Didn't need to hear that and didn't need the images of that as well."

"Hahahahah, now you're gonna think of that all day."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you after school, Mike."

Kate settled in to the school routine, it usually is very chaotic for a Monday morning. Kate bickered with her friends as the day went by with a school assembly and learnt about equality in communities and the hardware used in coding. A very interesting combination but the zap distracted her numerous times, on the most part making her peers a bit worried but she assured them she is fine. After all, they don't know what happened either.

But eventually, by the time the fourth period started for science, time struck the bell of fear and dispatched an envoy of destruction, for which its target was for everyone besides the entity that which it prospected for much less.

A convoy of chaos was approaching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh exposition, nice.
> 
> I'm gonna try and draw refs for Kate and Mike. Arc's ref may be indefinite due to it spoiling too much.
> 
> And, all the art for it is going on my Tumblr, under the same account name. Well, when I post it there for people to see it. Probably will after the next chapter. Whoo boy! That one will be long. Or I'll split it.


	3. Silent edges

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things don't go well. And Kate isn't having it at all.

_//ENTRY NO. 4//_  
 _//TIMELINE NUMBER 999 000//_  
\--------------  
Nothing.

Just nothing.

I've looked at _LITERALLY_ everything. How is it there nothing?!!  
It's all nothing, **WHY DOES IT SHOW NOTHING?**

I NEED SOMETHING, I NEED IT TO BE THERE. ~~IT... it~~ ~~should be there, right? Why isn't it there? I don't get it at all. I just... why?~~  
 ~~Goddammit, why is it like this? I just need one thing, and it's not there.~~  
*Sigh*  
I need a second. This is getting too to my head WAY more than it should.

*Ahem*

I apologize for the past behaviour but, there is a little unfortunate news that I have to declare.  
I don't have the solution and there probably isn't one. There, I've said it. Are you happy now?  
I'm running out of time and these outcomes aren't all the same length, goddamn it. I have goddamn forsaken my mind for this to shit on me and now I'm stuck.   
What am I gonna do? And how am I gonna deal with this now?  
There's no way that I can save us with our universal rules so what am I supposed to do, give up?  
Or keep reverting back so I can at least see all of their faces.  
No, that's stupid. That'll just make me keep seeing them die as well. And there will be a limit until the world will stop me from coming back.  
Hmmm...  
...  
...  
Wait.

Think of what they said. About those events.

Ah! The Origin! And the Multiverse!

Wait...

There IS one other thing.  
One that would involve the others I haven't seen for a long time, and the outside world.

In those DREAMS. If anyone does remember those. Or if they REALLY did happen.

There's also one thing I can try to bring them back which, I'm "guessing" is a clear source of the event.  
BUT, it's gonna need a little spark. Or some sort of tip to get me to where I want. And I'm going to need to take a bit of a risk to get somewhere. I don't know what will happen once I cross outside of our universe, so I'm in a wide playing field of outcomes with a can of new variables.

So it's all set. It WILL come and I'll prepare for the worst if nothing else works.

I don't have time to catch my tears, but enough to catch my breath.

So, I'll go.  
And I'll wait for him on the hill, as always.  
That's where I'll see it.  
This plan better work, or so god help me and everyone else.

I'm really sorry that I ruined everything.

And I probably won't be able to explain anything.

I hope, one day, that I'll be able to see your faces and remove the mask upon my face.

Because these tears aren't going to wipe themselves.

* * *

"Heyyyyyy, you good? You look a bit lost." Tom waved his hand across her face, his face in an almost aesthetic grin. He justled himself, staring at them for a minute while he anticipated my response.  
What would Kate be without Tom? Ha, she thought. I wish he could know how much that smile is worth it. But for some, they just can't see what makes him a hidden gem. She wished people treated him better than just some weirdo like the others but it's high school. They're all bratty at this period of their lives. And they have the sympathy as big as an almond. 

Kate never knew fully why she disconnected from most people her age, or why she was always segregated from the social hierarchy of school but she assured that it could change. It never worked out the right way. Never. She looked back at her friends, pondering at what could've been. And what has happened so far. She was so lucky to have nice friends like them. Chaotic and a bit childish but nevertheless, they were the best friends she wished she had for the last 10 years. Kate looked back at Tom and smirked.

"Yeah, Tom, I'm fine. Just feeling a bit off, but otherwise feeling mostly fine. Why, do I look dead or something? You're asking me like I'm a kid". She adjusted her jumper, reacting back with a half-assed smile. Kate was definitely not the brightest, smiley girl after all. A voice is the only way to express most in Kate's view of things. And the only clear thing that she kept as initiative.

"Hmmm, I don't think so. Are you hiding something from us? Or are you actually feeling lost?" As he turned his head down towards my head level. Tall bastard.  
"Psssssh, if I did, I would have told ya alread-"  
They leanedto look down at their arm and oh god! It's really coming that fast?

Purple sparks and blocks hovered over Kate's arm, bumping it like it was an offence towards her. It wasn't a good sign and she needed to act to get more time.

Calm down and follow the plan. We are NOT failing this time. Not for fun, not for fame, for them. I AM NOT GOING TO WATCH THEM DIE AGAIN.  
I just needed more tim-  
"Hey! You alright? You're acting odd as hell, Kate. Speak to me, please."  
"What's the time?"

"What?"

"I said, what's the time. It's important".  
"I don't know. Ask the others. Hey guys, what's the time?"

The other two swerved around, one of them sticking his hand into his pocket, a phone appearing in his hand as he took it out.  
"It's quarter past 12. Why?" They asked. "It's kinda weird that the teacher hasn't come yet though".  
"Oh god. WE NEED TO GO. NOW", Kate adjusted her backpack, juggling her phone, sending a rushed text to Mike, typing as fast as she could;

"MIKE, GET TO THE OFFICE RIGHT NOW. SOMETHING'S HAPPNING AND I NEED TO GET U AND THE NEIGBOUR BACK HOME."

Her hands shaking, she looked up, at the closest watch, her eyes widened to the purple sparks where her classmate once stood. 

"Oh god. We need to go. Tom, you and the others go home. Try and reach contact with your family. Good chance is that the teacher isn't gonna come and we aren't gonna get anything from staying here. Now GO!!!"

But they didn't move, their faces still focused on their friend. They didn't understand and they were still perplexed at what was happening, virtually petrified. They didn't know how to react.

More purple sparks appeared, with more students poofing away faster at the seams. This didn't look good. Not good at all.

Kate sighed, rushed quickly in and-

//WHOOSH//

Before anyone else could scramble out of there, Kate took all of her fazed friend's arms and teleported them to the office to dodge the almost immediate scramble of students. Kate's friends were still very shaken by the sudden action but Kate quickly hushed them up.

"Look, we don't have time to explain 'this' so just try and act rationally. We are limited for time and you need to think wisely".

Kate stopped to see Mike, sweat pouring down his face, his face full of cuts and scratches from the scramble and calmed him down, as she finished up her talk.

"If you can go home, go home. If you know your family member's phone number, use the phone in the office. If you can't do either of those, go with someone else. Got it?"

They nodded in agreement, then rushed in a uniform fashion together, disappearing from Katelyn's field of view in seconds. Kate sighed with relief, she knew they can cope with this. They've coped with much worse. We've talked about much worse, Kate thought.

"You mind going now? They're gone, and we might be too if we don't go".

"Okay Mike, got it. Give me your hand. You too".

//WHOOSH//

Kate waved back to the neighbour, still a little bit unsure and shook. Kate stretched around and pulled her backpack off to take out her house keys, pressing them to open the lock in the front doors of the house. Then, she opened the door, a sudden gust of hot blasting air from the lounge room.

Her parents were sitting on the beige recliners, about to start a game on their console. They instantly turned their head as they heard the door creak forward, her dad instantly stood up, fists clenched. He rushed at the door to investigate the peculiar visitors.

"Dad, you need to calm down, it's me! Just put the fists down, we came home because something bad is happening and we need to see you in case it happens to you or worse, to us".

He slowed down, his breathing softened and he gave Kate a nice, big squeeze. He gave the two visitors a nervous look, as he was still trying to figure out what happened. But as soon as everyone had fully settled down, purple sparks appeared in the lounge room.

"MUM!!! NO!!!" Mike screamed as the former mother poofed away from clear sight. He turned his view to his other family members with pure panic in his eyes. His hands shaking, his face was as fresh as white chalk, frozen with fear as he looked at them.

Then, the second member was struck.

"DAD!!!" The brother screamed once more, lunging at the remains of the fallen father as another had disappeared within a purple spark. Finally, he turned to the last piece of the family he had, tears rushing down his cheeks, he lunged at his older sister's arms and hugged her tightly, holding her close.

"D-don't go, Katelyn. Not you too", as he wiped his face and looked down on her.

"Mike, I'm not going, I'll stay for as long as you need me. No matter what. It's what a big sister is for, right? Just, calm down. I'll protect you from anything that comes at us, and I'll always be there to make you happy. Whether it be for you to annoy me or for someone to laugh with, I'll be there. I promise. And you know I try to keep my promises".

Even Kate started to tear up, her taller brother looking at her with a sombre glare. But eventually, there was a third zap that took the final family member.

Kate dropped to her knees, her arms flapping from the figure it once held no longer present.

Her brother was gone for good. **All of them** were gone for good. It wasn't easy to get through this easy but you could tell in her eyes that she hated every second of this. This pain, this feeling of unbridled agony. It sickened her to the core of her soul. As she shook as much as she could away from the emotion, she looked to the centre of the hand, stimulated by the activity around her. She couldn't feel any pain from it, from the sheer sight of it was ten times the pain of what it would have been.

She finished looking to her palm and took a few deep breaths before getting up to quickly wash her face to move on to check on everyone else. It wasn't as hard this time, as most outcomes were. She actually held most of the tears in for once. Not a proud achievement but it helps for time.

Kate changed her clothes into more practical clothes, them being a black V-neck with a bright white collar, blue jeans, navy blue hoodie and proper running sneakers. She took any valuables that still existed into a bright blue strap bag, including her phone, art stuff and family remains. Now, she was ready. 

She took a deep breath and teleported to a place she knew she would find someone.

The place where they saw the surface for the first time and spent many breaks from their job watching the sunset. Where many walls were broken and so many hopes and promises were made.

Why would she choose here? Well, Arc loved this spot. He'd always come here, no doubt. She just knew it.

As she wandered towards the centre, she could see her friend in the opposite direction, fixed on the horizon once again. The pinks, oranges and reds, barely visible from the gaps of code crumbling and tearing themselves apart. You could see it hurt him to see that unholy affliction. 

If he knew about how many times they met there, he would've never wanted to go there ever again. He only knew a very small fraction of what had happened, but it was enough to hate it.

"So ya made it. Again. How's the next one gonna be?"

"There isn't "another one", Arc. This is the final outcome. There are no more retries. There are no more restarts. There is nothing else to cover. We have turned over every rock, we have done everything we can".

"...", Arc paused in pure disbelief. 

"So, it's the end. Well, for everyone except me, I'm don't have a choic-"

"Okay, okay, okay. What are ya gonna do after the universe and everything in it dies? And how do ya know that you're gonna survive **all** of that?"

"I've done the stats, I will survive but based on background knowledge, I'm going to have to cause some major... Alterations. More like a detachment of sorts".

"Mhm".

"I'm going to have to break the link from our world to get outside of our universe. Sucks but it's the only way we're getting out of this mess. You with me, pal?"

Arc lunges at Kate, giving her a huge hug, whispering in her ear as purple flickers appear around the two, the world slowly vanishing around them.

"Always with ya Kate. Don't worry about us. Just try and stay alive out there at least for me, o-"

Kate couldn't hold the falling drops of tears, she clenched onto his jacket, to her best friend. Until she could no longer feel a thing. He had never done that before, it caught her off guard so much, she broke down into tears as the destruction ensued around her.

With the world at a crescendo, barriers broke off and decayed. Pixels flew and sparked into nothing, floors just disappeared and gravity no longer existed. 

It was The Converge, the clash of power against a wall it should not have ever encountered. A fight that was never won and always lost helplessly.

Within a few minutes, you would need a photographic memory to find anything because it was so scattered and spread out. Walls and floors just didn't make sense anymore, you could instantly move from one part of the world to the other with one step. Mixtures of textures clipped into the other and produced blobs of leftover code everywhere.

It was a complete mess to navigate and survive in.

Well, if people still lived to that part.

* * *

Kate was used to this part. She'd always start at the remains of the hill and move in the same path. Since a lot of the layers of the world were destroyed, she could easily jump from the overworld to places you otherwise need equipment to teleport to like for instance, their universe's void. 

But not this time. For the first time, she simply sat down on a barrier and watched. She furthered her look on the world she grew up on. It was... hard to look at an empty wall while knowing that was the plot of land where your house was. And your school, and your friend's house, and the shops and the place you panicked that you paid too much for a chicken schnitzel.

It was the last few moments that Kate had to look at what she'd have. And for once, she was proud of it with all she had. It was one of the only times she'd feel bad for not doing nothing. It gave her too much strain on her mind, and an unknown tug on her heart. Too much to handle, she thought.

She sighed as she started getting up, a long green flashing cord appearing to her waist, infused with glowing 0's and 1's flowing down it.

"I'm the only one here. And here's the link, right on schedule".

Kate looked at the tangled cord strapped to her waist. Like a tether, it was strapped to her. Well, was.

//SNAP//

"There, t-that worked! And there's the portal, r-right on time!"

A hole appeared on the side of the remaining barrier of the universe, an opening to nothing but a piercing white. A shuddering sight but a welcoming one towards what she had in mind.

Kate hopped into the portal and left the crumbling sanction. The portal shut in an instant pause, with no way to go back. The whirring of the destruction fading with each step she took into the white.

And for once, everything was silent. As a music studio but there's no one there. Or one of those soundproofed chambers they used for psychological experiments. Actually, a lot more like the second. But amped up to twenty-seven. Or like tenitis but it's so high pitched you can't hear the ringing but you're still annoyed. (Ya get the point).

And now, she had stepped into the unknown. She knew that they had started a new outcome, determined to keep going. They waited for what seemed hours on end to what's worth it as the key to everything. Before they started waiting, they set their phone with the time like they had in their universe, so they can keep track. It felt stupid, to them, but they knew it would make sense later.

Well, anything they've done seems stupid but it makes sense, they guess?

For the time it took to "change", it was defined by the mind. She had seen different cases of the change so she needed to keep a certain mindset to get it right. The timing was also vital as it causes insanity if she doesn't leave in enough time.

It was an unfair balance that she was already struggling with from the start.

From the separation from her universe, she lost most of her code, making the process rapid than most cases. She changed, her code phasing more, white blocks slightly appearing. She felt her body's code separate and reform themselves, like breaking and reassembling a jigsaw puzzle. Very distasteful and just downright terrifying.

Then, she felt it.

She snapped her fingers, opening a portal. It had ACTUALLY worked. She felt a feeling deep inside of her, ready to push through and keep going. She jolted to the newly formed portal, quickly dashing to the new land full of colour and life

She was filled with HOPE once more.

She left the white world, her changes hard to adapt to but she eventually learnt the control after a long period of focus and temperance over her current state. It was pretty damn hard though. Learning the new limits and new powers that she only had in limited circumstances that she now had permanently, she became accustomed to these new conditions. 

Although she felt like something was... missing, she located the next location and her next objective. She loaded her new map and pinned the world she needed to visit, and in good time as well! Stuff was going down. But it wasn't important right now. Kate had a job.

And so she got used to her teleports and within a snap, she left to the next location, Undertale.

And so, the quest begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Dun Dun, everyone is deded*  
> New chapter done, yay!  
> And lots of angsty stuff, yessss  
> This took a while to get it worded right but I hope it's not too long, I wanted to make sure it flowed right for the next one.  
> And yes, this story, although not mentioned yet, is not just a "sans-centric" story (yes I said that) I hope it can include other characters that aren't otherwise usually give the same attention.  
> And also stick to canon as much as possible and more POVs for other characters and events.  
> Hope you enjoyed ♥️


	4. Chrome dome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kate does training and realises the cost of being there.  
> Oh no :(  
> They realise they aren't the same as they were before The Converge.  
> And they act really off

It wasn't the same.  
The sickly droning in their head, the hollow emptiness in their eyes, their view on the world looked... grey.  
A flash of colour in the sky wouldn't look any different to the ground they tread on. And the common smell of Kate's favourite foods just smelt... off.

As they left the white void in a brittle clearing in Outertale, Kate dropped to their knees, balancing their blurry vision from the recent events. The feeling started as a weird pinch to the chest but as they had left the Anti-void, slowly drifting into a pulsating aching pain in the back of their head, slowly spreading to the rest of their body. The pain overwhelmed her, her vision shifting intermittently. Kate couldn't do much but wait for the pain to stop. It felt like a decade but the pain as slow as it grew, it ceased away and faded.  
As they ruffled their clothes as they adjusted their vision, they adjusted their view to the outskirts, it took them a while to remember the location they were in but it amazed them how it stayed the same. The crumbled platforms lifting and floating around the outskirts, the brittle environment still reeking of the chaos it endured.

"0.4", they grumbled. "Goddamn it Ink, the plot isn't everything. You really screwed everything up, haven't you? You and your little FRIEND".  
"... And I thought I was doing the wrong thing".  
They sighed. Why didn't they feel angry? Why didn't they cry? Why aren't they... emotional? This didn't feel right at ALL. They tried for quite a while to feel something. They tried to laugh, to cry, to pull a fit of rage, they even tried to punch themselves in the arm. Well, the pain from punching themselves hurt a lot but for the rest, nothing. But there was one thing that made them feel something. A feeling of passion. The reason Kate was out here.

The Converge.

They finally realised the missing piece. The emotions and personality. All gone. Any remains of it were from their soul, leading them to the frontier. To the objective.

They knew that there was a price to being out here but not what. They knew that this could help them but it could also destroy them. But they had to focus on the way out first.

"I need to keep going. They aren't going to come back from nothing", they said as they focused their eyes to the horizon. They spawned their white soul into their hand, it fiercely glowing against the blackened space in the landscapes.

"Let's do this", clenching their fists.

The ongoing training to become adjusted to their powers was very peculiar. The tempo was rigorous and intense, the blasters and blades summoned with harmonious timing to the other. The patterns were random, spontaneous, an array of combos were adapted and practised with fluidity in each spawn in. Kate learned their new powers and introduced new techniques to adapt to new situations. Some patterns were almost too quick to see it. And some were made to distract or disarm their opponent.

The attacks she practised the most; the strings and the platforms.

They reminded her of a few people she saw a long time ago, who had strings much like the ones she had unlocked. They had blue ones that reacted to objects much like Kate's only much less controlled. Kate had white strings that were... a bit limp to say at first. But as they got used to it, it followed where they charged it, almost like an extra appendage.

Unlike the strings, the platforms were just mesmerising. They didn't follow any laws of physics except that they could phase in and out of existence by Kate's command. Like they existed and did not at the same time. But after a few trips and falls, the platforms were shaped in nanoseconds when summoned, being only able to be used by Kate. 

When the training was finished, Kate created a stand-up mirror to see if anything had changed. And sure to be there, some things did.

Kate gazed at their new look, their eyes now had the most monotoned colours she had ever seen. The dark hazelnut shade had fully faded away, the eyes as grey as the chrome finish on aluminium. She took a deep breath and tensed themselves in frustration.

Not only their eyes had changed, but their clothes were more dynamic. They had more clashing designs, with a white circle in the middle of the hoodie and greys and blacks covering around it.

She started to pack up any mess she had caused during training and attempted to clear a few points she had ticking in her mind.

"What name should I be? Cause I don't WANT to be called Kate or Katelyn. None of it. Not by anyone out here".Veering to the cliffside, she sat leaning on the rocky edges.

"Hmmm, why not Grey? It helps when everything you wear is just a bunch of greys. And well, I can't feel any colour anymore. So it's settled then. Heh". She closed her eyes and paused for a minute and raised her hand out.

"Nice to meet ya. I'm Grey", standing up as they recovered their new location.

"It's time to do something I should've done a LONG time ago. And I don't care if it changes shit. They have changed **enough** ".

*The chance to save your world and your friends fills you with HOPE*

"Grey. Ha. Wonder if they'll notice how bad it sounds".

They hopped into the portal, leaving for the new location.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kate is now GREY, they don't have any emotion left other than hope, unable to feel any... unless?
> 
> I'm sorry there was a time gap inbetween posting, I had stuff to do inbetween :(
> 
> And I made a Tumblr for this, It's just arctale.  
> I've added refs for Kate on there.
> 
> And I posted recently on there so that's good! 
> 
> I wanted a context chapter for the differences they had. Plus I skipped over the time in Outertale so I wanted more story on that as well.


	5. Analepsis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BUILD UPPPPPP  
> *Tension builds*  
> Stuff is happening, it's happening.  
> Oh, and due to how Underverse season 2 is probably not going to be fully finished anytime soon, it'll be based on my interpretation of a bad ending of season 2 where nothing works out and X-Gaster wins.
> 
> I hope I interpreted him properly :(

In the remains of a broken domain, an arched figure stands above the rest, looming over his victorious stance and smiles. The former alliance who stood against the figure held themselves back against their enemy, their eyes twinged at each type of movement that their opponent had made. X-Gaster had won. And the group had no further power to spare.

The group of Classic, Ink, Error, Dream, Nightmare, Fatal, Killer, Cross and UT Frisk and X!Chara stumbled on the ground below their enemy in defeat. Through a long and arduous section of events, their unity was for naught. Most of them brutally damaged and wounded. They kept low to the floor in hopes to escape X-Gaster, as he came towards them with a smug, crude expression on his face.

He looked upon them in disgust, glaring at them. He knew he had won. There was no one left that had failed to stop him or had no power left to. It was a game, set and match. And all the cards were in his favour.

He sighed, shooting a canny grin to the fallen companions.

"There's no use in stopping it", as he snarled at the group.

"It's a shame, I gave you all a chance to join me, in my perfect world. But **YOU** threw it away. When I perfect everything, I will make sure to dispose of you all... accordingly. And don't worry, I won't let your code go to waste, either".

With a small flick of his hand, X-Gaster summoned the Overwrite button, his face crinkled up at the people in from of him.

_'They were only mere obstacles to my perfect story, to my perfect world. And it's only one.press.away. There's no one else to stop m-'_

A sudden flicker of light cloaks the surroundings and transforms X-Gaster's view to a being in the distance. As the individual walked forward towards X-Gaster, they twitched and grew in size, changing shape and form as they moved towards X-Gaster, staring with a shifted look of determination and disgruntlement.

They halted in front of the skeleton, their eyes piercing the other with sheer force. It took a while for X-Gaster to process who they were looking at. They sensed something from the individual that was unique to them. From examining all of the facial features, the stance and especially the soul, the answer shone out to him, his eyes narrowed in the sudden realisation, causing him to jerk back in alarm. He rebalanced his posture and looked back at the human in their midst.

"How are you here, Kris? I know your code is... "unusual" so this is definitely a peculiar scenar-"

"My name is not Kris", they retorted.

This confused the victor even more. This torched him with frustration, looking at their old acquaintance with even more disbelief. It didn't make sense. _Why didn't they make sense?_

"What do you want?"

"I want to do something I should've done a long time ago".

"And that is?"

"I want to fix things, to the way they should be".

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"*Sigh*...Because you have what I need".

She looked down to their bag to the side of them in an act of checking, to make sure it's the right thing. Then they looked back to the tall being in front of them.

"I need... your soul. It's a fair trade, to be honest with ya. A life for a life. Pretty fair, if I say".

They softly chuckled to the side.

"Unless you want to make it harder for yourself, then I recommend to pass it over freely right here, right now. And I will give it back to you once I'm done with it".

They waited for the other's response but flinched from the sound of laughter coming from them. It sounded clunky and unsettling, like an off use of autotune.

"So, you're another obstacle. Do you want to join me and live in my perfect world, or do you want to perish with the other... **insufferable ones**?"

Their teeth clenched in anger, their eyes duelled with glowing swirls of white through the irises. They balanced their weight on one foot, leaning forwards at X-Gaster and frowned.

"I died when you made me lose my perfect world, you coward. You chose the wrong choice, X-Gaster, and you will feel it when we meet once more".

They turned around suddenly moving away from the other, summoning a portal. As they stood at the edge of the portal, they turned back around and pouted.

"And by the way, my name isn't Kris, it's GREY. At least you'll know the name of the person who kills you and takes your hope fresh out of your dead corpse, you megalomaniac".

As they disappeared from the portal, the white envelope faded away, leaving the original background of the remains of the victory.

The victor moved closer to the group, which had started to retreat further away from their location in a means to escape.

"You aren't getting away that easily, not this time".

X-Gaster pressed the Overwrite button, summoning an attack towards the comrades. As the attack hurtles towards them, a white glow hovered in front of them, creating an immediate shield over the group, deflecting the attack. The gust spawns spores of dust from the aftermath, cloaking the area from any sort of clear sight.

The two sides stay idle as the shield teleports away and their sight turns to the front. As the dust clears, the vision returns to both sides. The dust is swept to side from a beam of light clearing a white portal in the middle of the battlefield. A figure walks out of the portal and into the middle of the two groups, summoning a white blade that they grip with their two hands at the bottom to the front of their body. They leaned back towards the group behind them and looked at their bag once more.

_'Don't forget the reasons for what you are living for, GREY. Or you'll die for someone else's'._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boi, stuff is happening.  
> And there is BEEF.
> 
> Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter, the next one will be... Intriguing to say the least.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!  
> -Cinder ❤️


	6. Familiar struggles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here we go new chapter, FINALLY.  
> HERE WE GO, NEW STUFF!!!  
> Quite a lot happens, and I hope you like it.  
> Enjoy!

//ENTRY NO. 6//

//TIMELINE NUMBER 1,000,000//

\--------------

Well, it worked.

I'm... _Out_. Out of the loop.

I got somewhere, at least.

But did I really make **the right choice?**

Is this really **the right way** to get through this?

Is this a new loop entirely?

Am I ever going to GET OUT OF THIS MESS?!?

*Sigh*

I... I can't think right after what happened.

Seriously, there's something really off.

I feel like I left something behind in my universe.

And it's making me feel weird. Well, feel nothing.

Whether it's symbolic or literal, I still have that weird will to continue this to the next step forward.

To continue this **goal**.

To get through whatever comes my way and to deal with whatever cards I'm dealt with.

This HOPE just keeps me together, stitching my pieces together with pieces that aren't there anymore. 

Literally, putting the pieces back and then putting another in its place because it disappears.

I'm practically running on HOPE right now.

There's no emotions or any personality-based input that balances it out to let me have that moral compass that held me back so much in my home.

And it kinda scares me that the HOPE would allow me to go on without emotions, kinda like how Flowey did for so long, becoming sadistic and chaotic.

It's a bit chilling to know it's possible for HOPE as well. And it keeps much more of the person intact compared to Determination.

Great. Just great.

I'm going to get something done so I can at least rule some outcomes out of the window for now.

And the first outcome is... To interrupt the events of Underverse.

Coincidently, I have a good guess on where the people I need to see are.

And a good chance on a solution from a little "exchange".

It might even, based on my rough knowledge on soul transfusions, solve the emotion problem or at least lessen the hollow feeling I'm having.

It's a good place to start.

And I'm not going to add any unnecessary conflict so I can keep the multiverse as unaltered as possible.

Just the one person.

I'm sure HE wouldn't mind a visit.

And to return the favour.

His little game hasn't been good on my part.

And It's my turn to roll the dice in my honour.

It's time to draw, **_X-GASTER_**.

\---------

* * *

GREY looked blankly at the individual in front of them, staring at the centre of their body. They took a few deep breaths as they left the white void, their heart almost leaping out towards the large figure. They stepped closer, blade held with both hands, shuffling towards the other, leering at them with a rotten smile. X-Gaster, still calculating his defence, looked back with a curious glare.

GREY stopped a few metres away and stepped into a slight backward stance, their swords being lifted beside them with their left hand in a sheathed position. Their shoulders relaxed and stood still, their breaths equal time to each other like the deflation and reinflation of a balloon. 

Their glasses reflected some of the lowered sunlight from the fading sun among the clouds on the nearby horizon, shining towards the opposer. They paused for a moment and looked eye to eye to X-Gaster.

"Do you know why I'm here? Do you know how important it is to take your soul? It's my only way out of this **mess**. Out of YOUR mess. You don't even care what would happen if your plan failed, would you? Because it's just another game, **right**?"

His upper body slightly flinched from her raise in tone, his eyes scoped his surrounds, evaluating the situation.

"Now, I'm asking one final time, one final drip of my patience, help me out peacefully and I'll let you have your perfect world. Just let me have mine back first, alright? It's better to have allies than enemies, I'll tell you that".

He lowered his stance, still trying to check his moves. There weren't many that had a good chance of success. He needed a loophole out of this. But there wasn't one. Brute force wasn't his go-to for strategizing but it was the only good opening he saw that was possible.

He straightened his stature to look back at the other in front of them, keeping their head up in an attempt to intimidate the other. He paused, forming the balanced response while remaining snide.

"I'm not giving you **anything**. Now get out of my way. I've got work to do. And I don't need "friends". THEY ALWAYS DISAPPOINT ME".

She sighs and swings her sword back around. Her eyes flicker, one eye swallows up her shadow behind her and glows black, the other glowing a white hue from the monochrome pupil.

" **You** are going to hate what you just said FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE".

The gust returns, dust clustering around the two in droves of dirt and pebbles, X-Gaster summoning his hands and the Overwrite button.

He presses it, purple strings dive towards GREY, wrapping them up in an attempt to overwrite their code. A mass of rips creates an echoing snap that rumbles the remains of the cliffside, strings flying out in all directions.

GREY flew back and bitterly chuckled at the attack, a bitter wave of disappointment ruffled them. 'Is that really their strategy? To overwrite me? I thought he was clever'. She looked back, summoning another blade in their left hand in front of them, catching it as it was summoned.

"I'm a unique character in my universe, you can't overwrite that, genius. Plus, I don't think you'd find much in there to overwrite anyway. I'm running low on code".

GREY lunges back into a zig-zag motion, dodging any minor bone attacks and blaster directed to her, jumping on and off of platforms to gain speed towards X-Gaster. They collide several times, her sword clashing against his attacks, the fight lasting blow upon blow to both sides.

Each side had their own problems and complications to deal with, for GREY it was the strings destroying the platforms, forcing her to create new ones to regain their balance and not open themselves to a flank behind them. And for X-Gaster, the frequent barricade of attack given by the other had overwhelmed the other in energy, giving him less and less time to respond to the change in angle and type of attack. 

After a sequence of blows, a cluster of smoke and dirt was blown away to show two shadowed figures covered in dirt and leaking blood from their sides. Their eyes narrowed, gazing for a good approach to defeat the opponent in front of them. But as soon as one could think, the other had already made up their mind. And they took the chance.

A huge boom echoes, a large cylindrical hole is seen through X-Gaster's chest, a large shattering of bones causes the bones to break and splinter, creating sharp crackling as it breaks apart from the impact. Purple blood oozes from the wound in large gushes, dripping and pouring out of the sides.

The pierced creator turns their head down to the attacker, coughing up bits of blood as they struggle to form words as each second passes.

"Ugh. Ah... Hah... You weren't kidding", they remarked, coughing up blood from their mouth, wiping as much off as they could.

A gushing of blood echoed through the land around them, covering GREY's face in the purple blood and the hole they had created from punching through X-Gaster's chest, mutilating the rib cage, shattering it entirely.

She held his purple soul in her hand from ripping it straight out, her arm slightly shaking and her breathing turned heavier as she slowed down her attack. She was still processing how she got there, looking forward to her grip on the soul.

"So... you did it, Kris. You got what you wanted. See if you can make your perfect world a reality now. Just don't give it to **them.** They would only make things worse. You're smart enough to know that at least. **Don't prove me wrong** ".

His form crumbled from top to bottom, eroding around GREY, as X-Gaster's damaged form dusted away from all points of view. The last purple remained in the soul captured in the new victor's hand in front of them, held tightly in their sweaty palms.

In a fit of the moment, GREY crushed the soul in her hand, absorbing it. A piercing light beamed around GREY, lighting the place around her in purple glowing light, lasting for a minute as it faded little by little to show GREY with their hand empty.

They had changed once more. Their eyes had gained a faint purple hue with the silver colour they had previously inherited and the top part of their hoodie had changed from a grey to a purple. The biggest change was a sudden burst in the **colour** that they could sense around them.

Suddenly, she felt the colours around her. The red rage in her heart, the yellows of her relief and the large amounts of blue falling from her eyes as she could finally release the pain she had. So many colours swarmed her with emotions she yearned to have for so long, streams of tears fell down faster than the blood from her wounds, liquid dripping to the floor, coating it in greys, reds and purple reflections. Her hands remained in the same position as they released so much agony from not being able to cope or just move on. She finally had a break. 

The group behind had only seen the back of the stranger, unknown to who had killed their opposer. They looked perplexed at how easy they had made it to combat X-Gaster and take him down, making it look like a piece of cake. Their elegance and agility almost too natural for a normal human. The group looked on with utter astonishment.

And then they remained frozen in their movement as they heard a new sound coming from them. They were now crying.

They heard their soft sobbing and the quiet drops of tears and blood coating the floor around them, forming small puddles. This made the group of creations very curious and a bit shocked at the turn of events that quickly. They had all gotten up and stepped slowly towards the unknown aider, cautious to the power they all witnessed.

To them, this person, they seemed... Familiar. But they still treaded cautiously from where they were. They stopped immediately in their tracks from the new light glowing from the Overwrite button in front of the stranger. The unknown human pressed the button, clearing the scattered environment to the original landscape of pine forests and stable cliffsides building on the mountain they stood on. Purple glitches quickly appeared from the newly placed elements and disappeared as the objects rendered themselves around the group and the summoner.

The closest member, Classic, stepped forward until they were behind them, surveying them. They noticed their clothes were tattered and their hair was tangled up and untidy like it hadn't been fixed for a while. He knew this look, he knew someone with that look, he just couldn't think of who. Intrigued, he decided to step closer to try to talk. But as soon as they started to reach to tap them in the back, they disappeared with a quick purple flash.

He stood back in awe of the human, as they were nowhere to be seen. The rest stumbled in response to the flash, looking with an utmost curiosity after it happened. They had left them. And they didn't know who they were and why they saved them. All they knew is that they now have the power to Overwrite. They looked back to the forest behind them, retreating back into a comfortable place, all of them filled with the unease of the events before them.

* * *

As they teleported back, they sat down and smiled, watching the glistening space zoom past their face.

The stars twinkled and glowed with a positive flash, meteors flying past them, colliding and crashing into each other past GREY'S face.

The canvas of galaxies flooded them with an abundance of feelings they had felt pulled back from to experience. They smiled and laughed with so much feeling and laughed and cried. 

It was the first time they _smiled_ in a very long time.

It was the first time they _felt_ in a very long time.

But they weren't the only one watching the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, he deded.  
> What's gonna happen?  
> And I'm gonna do more stuff I swear!  
> I've had tests so I've been putting Arctale off 😅  
> I'm really trying to add as much as I can to make it interesting and new.  
> So I want it to be interesting.  
> I do hope you enjoyed reading it! 💕


	7. An Inquietude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took a small break from writing so here's the next chapter, I'm sorry for not writing! I really want to continue this asldaadadfkdfnjsndjasjdfnsndkjsdnf 
> 
> So here you go!

//ENTRY NO. 7/ //TIMELINE NUMBER 1,000,000// --------------

_So... It's done._

_I've got X-gaster's soul._

_And with it, the power to OVERWRITE._

_And the power that started this terrible chain of events._

_Now, all I have to do is go back home,_

_And use the OVERWRITE button to bring everything back!_

_IT WILL ALL BE OVER!!! FINALLY!!!_

_It almost seems TOO simple at the same time thinking about it._

_Just got to focus first, and reverse what had happened._

_BUT, once I fix all the damage that has been obstructed, I will_ _**have** _ _to keep my promise._

_Even if it is the wrong thing to do, giving it back to **Him** to do whatever he wants._

_But once I'm done, I'm not his problem anymore anyway, right?_

_He has his own... priorities._

\--------------

* * *

Gaping eyes looked beside them, narrowing as they examined the human sitting on the edge, gaping at the glowing surrounds with an utter bliss usually seen by children when they open Christmas presents.

Looking at them, now after all of this time, they were almost hesitant to interact with them. Too many questions and ideas kept rippling and tearing apart his mind, and quite honestly, some of them even staggered him to think they would be... biologically correct at the least. It took them a while to recompose their conscious, as it kept whirling at numerous topics about GREY.

The point that when they _were_ with them, quietly and calmly like they had before, compared to now. They had never spoken out like that to anyone, much less to them. Where they were so driven, so relentless and independent in their actions. Like nothing that had been keeping them back held them no longer. That **rush** that kept them moving on without a single regret or thought to stop them.

And their **magic**. The power they commanded was very warm and welcoming when thrown at you but as it left you, it left you feeling sickened and added an almost repulsed feeling to their stomach. the waves of energy carried its own waves of character, to the point where you drowned in those projections of thought. Did those raw feelings come from her _magic_ , or were they truly _hers_?

How could THEY be so powerful? 

Too many questions and no answers. 

As soon as they reappeared, they had found themselves in a blue-hued undercover of space, surrounded by small remains of a large crate floating around the main remnant they sat on, shaped like a cliff looking onward to the wider expands of glimmering stars and comets.

They knew they were stuck here for now, with their old acquaintance.

Looking at the sky without a single thing distracting them from doing it. With not a single care about it.

They decided to sit down, so they started to walk over, proceeding to sit down next to GREY.

They slowly lowered themself onto the edge, unintentionally alerting GREY beside them.

In response, Grey jumped to the sound of ruffling, nerved by the unexpected visitor now sitting beside them, surveying their every move.

The one they killed. Of course. They're a phantom, sitting next to them. Their killer.

'This can only bring more trouble than I need. Well, they're here. There's not much I can do about _that_ ', they mumbled to themselves.

"So... You're not dead. X-Gaster", as GREY signalled a quick wave and showed a quick smile.

"So, are we going to your universe?"

GREY was taken aback by the almost instantaneous request. The sudden burst of acceptance was peculiar at the least and noticeably interesting to their bold ask.

"If you mind me asking, you're acting too overly content over doing that. WHY?"

X-Gaster paused for a second. 

"Well, for one, I don't have a choice right now. Two, I want to see WHY you needed my soul. And three, we made a promise. And once we're done, you're giving me my soul back. And you WILL".

"...",

GREY took a minute to dial it into what was happening.

'So, X-Gaster is going to be there when you fix everything and you will be stuck as a hollow husk of your former selves when you give his soul back.

You've screwed up so much already. But you HAVE to keep going...'

They shook their head and tried to retain their calm approach. Of course, that wasn't hard to not release emotions on the person who caused them.

And in doing so, they tried to stay focused.

"You REALLY want to see my world, old man? Well... Well! I hope you are open to disappointment then. I can't guarantee it's favourable for your specific... tastes.".

GREY yawned and looked at the time on her phone.

"Well, we took all of the time today from fighting so we are LATE on the schedule. VERY late. So we will have to start travelling tomorrow. I can't travel without energy. That's considered suicide".

"*sigh* Fine. I don't have a choice in how long it takes. But I _will_ find a way to get us there if you... change your mind", he looked on as he started to reluctantly get comfortable where they were stationed.

"Sounds good to me. I'm going to get some beef noodles because I am STARVING! It's always good food for the heart, heh".

They held their hand out and a red plastic container of spicy beef noodles appeared, soft white steam rising from the bowl it came in.

For the rest of the night, GREY ate her food, talked with X-Gaster and took notes while they recorded their progress so far. With many of their mannerisms and answers piquing X-Gaster's interest, he had prompted GREY a range of questions that would seem peculiar to most people already knowing the information. Questions about their clothes, their past and their world were a few of the topics asked. With most of their questions, GREY kept the answer vague enough to either not answer it for the time being or give any extra information that was at the least, too sensitive at the moment asked. Or at the most, give TOO much information at the time being.

Finally, before GREY had decided to get some rest, she was asked a final question.

"If your name isn't Kris, what is it?"

"...It's GREY".

"No, it isn't. You pronounce it like it's a status, not a name. You don't say it like that name belongs to you, almost like you were **forced** to call yourself that. So, what is it?"

"My name is GREY, whether _you_ think it's my name or not, my name is GREY".

She sighs, taking a final look at a photograph she had, showing a group photo of multiple figures in rows sorted from height with multiple different monsters to the front with Kate and Arc putting their arm around each other, smiling brightly into the camera. She stares at it for a minute or so, folding the photo back up and placing it back into their bag.

"I'm not up to arguing with you with this right now. I'll see you in the morning. Because you can't leave, ha. Good night".

They slowly closed their heavy eyes, the blues of outer space fading into a pitch black.

* * *

The group retreated to a brushed off area of a forest nearby. Many still felt the tension after witnessing the battle, the death of the person who had caused so much harm to the people they knew and the appearance of the stranger who might have saved their lives if they had not stepped in.

A collection of emotions had filled the group especially about the human who had stepped in. With some feelings of anxiety, fear, curiosity, hostility and a small amount of nostalgia. After patching up as much as they could, they had all stayed to discuss the same topic that they had all managed to wrap their head around. Classic, unexpectedly stepped forward first, slowly starting to hyperventilate as they gasped for air as they spoke.

"YOU COULD SEE IT AS WELL RIGHT??? I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THEM?"

"Of course, you weren't the only one who saw that. It's kind of hard to NOT NOTICE THAT", Nightmare interrupted.

"Calm down both of you. We can deal with this with a calmer tone at least and assess it". What happened from what we saw-".

"We know they aren't from any AUs any of us are from. That's a start", Fatal cut Dream talking, to most of the group's surprise, knowing how to continue the discussion.

"We aren't gonna state the fact they look familiar to most of us?", Classic continued.

"Of course we are, it's why we all stayed here", Error frowned, reluctant to stay only for the information.

Killer stood to the side, along with UT Frisk, Cross and X!Chara, looking onto the conversation closely behind the others. Most of them eyeing the other, to keep watch in case the other strikes.

The tension was building until Cross finally stepped forward noticing the only person who hadn't said a single word to add to the information.

"Ink... do _you_ know who they are?", he looked toward the guardian, with the others looking towards him as well to hear a response.

Ink remained silent for a few seconds, pondering at the single thought of who they were trying to uncover. 

With even a small glimpse of the idea, all he could at first was puke some ink, with the others being either grossed out or angry because he hasn't answered the question yet.

After wiping his mouth, he gave them an answer that was well worth the wait.

"I have a good idea of _who_ they might be. But! First, we need to see how they are, well here so to speak. _**They** _aren't _supposed_ to be here. So before we find them, I need to find out how they got out of their AU. If you want to come, I'll allow you to come with me to their AU this time. And ONLY this time".

The group grew silent over the sudden tone change, but most agreed to Ink's terms. Most agreeing to come based the seriousness in Ink's tone giving them a clear sign this wasn't just a regular AU. With the majority of the group leaving, UT Frisk, Classic and X!Chara chose to stay behind to make sure everyone who was affected by the X-event was okay and they had recovered well after what had happened. Cross was wary of keeping X!Chara back with the others but put it aside to move along to the AU Ink had spoken about.

And so the group disbanded, with Error, Dream, Nightmare, Fatal, Killer and Cross accompanying Ink, their last actions were noises of disgust as they all stood next to Ink in the large puddle of paint Ink had made to transport them all in. They left with a wet splash as they descended into the dark paint puddle, leaving the others trying to hold in their laughter as they slowly left the area. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took too long to write this, haha-
> 
> So, let's see what happens next.  
> Hope you enjoyed reading it :)


End file.
